The 22 enterprises subject to the inspection by the 2 Interdisciplinary Teams have all completed legal documents after granting mineral exploitation licenses such as: Land lease procedures, licensing of industrial explosives, approval of mine design documents, appointment of mine executives, environmental impact assessment, development of labor regulations, occupational safety and hygiene... However, through inspection, the 2 Interdisciplinary Teams have discovered and clarified shortcomings and violations in almost all regulations related to mineral exploitation activities.
Specifically, in land leasing, it was discovered that 7 licenses had been granted by the Provincial People's Committee for land lease but had not been registered for the first time; there were 15 licenses for land use as mine office areas, waste dumps, and mining support areas but the Provincial People's Committee had not yet granted land lease; there were 2 mineral exploitation enterprises in the mine that were granted but were outside the land lease area.
In the field of minerals, it was discovered that 2 licenses had not installed surveillance cameras; 19 licenses had not installed weighing stations where raw minerals were transported out of the mine to monitor and store related information. There were 15 licenses that did not have complete books, vouchers, documents, and related documents to determine the actual annual mining output. There was 1 enterprise that appointed a mine executive director in violation of regulations; 1 license had appointed a mine executive director but the enterprise did not notify the competent authority in writing. There was 1 license that did not update the current status map and cross-sectional drawing of the area permitted for mineral exploitation at least once every 6 months as prescribed; 1 license that created a current status map in 2021 did not fully show the current status as prescribed. There was 1 license that exploited 22.7% more than the licensed capacity. There were 3 mining licenses that went beyond the licensed boundary. There are 8 mining licenses that violate the mine design, exploiting the mining system not in accordance with the approved design documents; 1 license that establishes a mine design that is not consistent with the basic design, and does not submit the mine design to the competent authority. There is 1 enterprise that changes the name of the mineral mining organization but does not submit a request for license adjustment. There is 1 license that has stopped operating for over 1 year but does not notify the competent authority.
In the field of water resources, Dong Tien Joint Stock Company was found to be discharging wastewater into water sources at the Mineral Processing Factory Project (Chau Tien Commune, Quy Hop District) without a discharge license as prescribed. There were 2 licenses that did not implement the reporting regime on wastewater discharge activities into water sources; did not install wastewater discharge flow meters and operating books to monitor wastewater flow. There were 5 licenses that did not implement waterproofing measures and overflow prevention measures for wastewater treatment ponds.
In the field of environmental protection, there are 2 licenses that do not comply with the content of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report. There are 3 licenses that do not comply with one of the contents of the certificate of completion of environmental protection works. There is 1 license that does not report on annual environmental work and 1 enterprise license that does not report on annual hazardous waste management. There are 7 licenses that have not declared and paid fees for industrial wastewater.
Regarding industrial explosives, 16 enterprises have not built fences or have not built up to the standards for industrial explosive warehouses. 3 enterprises have not completed the blasting passports, and the blasting passports are not in accordance with the approved blasting design. 1 enterprise has violated the technical safety regulations on the use of industrial explosives. 1 enterprise has not notified the Provincial People's Committee in writing when using explosives...
In the field of labor safety, there are up to 19 enterprises violating labor laws; labor safety and hygiene. Violations include: labor contracts not recording full content according to regulations; not fully participating in social insurance for employees; not fully training in labor safety and hygiene; not developing incident handling and emergency response plans; not making periodic reports on labor safety and hygiene; on the situation of labor accidents; not organizing periodic health check-ups for employees; using expired labor regulations...
In particular, in compliance with tax laws, the Interdisciplinary Team discovered that 13 enterprises incorrectly declared output, resource tax calculation prices, and conversion coefficients between tons and m.3; tax rate; under-declaration of output for calculating environmental protection fees; coefficient for calculating mining fees; inaccurate declaration of costs for calculating corporate income tax, under-declaration of corporate income tax... There are 3 enterprises including Phuc Son Minerals Company Limited, Hong Bao Ngoc Company Limited, Ha An Tin Company Limited that are in debt for mineral exploitation rights and land rent.
According to the plan approved by the Provincial People's Committee, 4 district-level People's Committees including Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky and Nam Dan were inspected for their responsibility in state management of minerals. The inspection showed that the People's Committees of the districts have organized the implementation of state management of mineral resources in accordance with the provisions of law; implemented the instructions of the Provincial People's Committee in Directive No. 04/CT-UBND dated March 27, 2017 on strengthening state management of minerals in the province; Coordination regulations issued together with Decision No. 47/QD-UBND dated June 1, 2017 and the plan to protect unexploited minerals issued under Decision No. 4182/QD-UBND dated September 12, 2017. The People's Committees of these districts have also focused on disseminating laws in the field of minerals; Proactively organize inspections, and coordinate with relevant departments, branches, and sectors, and the Provincial Police to organize inspections, raids, and handle violations of mineral laws...
However, the Interdisciplinary Delegation assessed that the effectiveness of the propaganda and dissemination of legal education is not high; the work of protecting unexploited minerals still has many shortcomings and limitations. Therefore, illegal mining still occurs in many localities. Such as illegal mining of clay for bricks and tiles in Tan Long commune (Tan Ky); dredging tin ore in closed mine areas in Chau Hong commune (Quy Hop); mining ornamental stones in Nghia Hieu and Nghia Duc communes (Nghia Dan); illegal sand and gravel mining on Lam River through communes in Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Do Luong districts, etc. In some localities, there have even been large-scale, prolonged cases of illegal mining of minerals, causing negative public opinion among the people. Evidence is the painful case discovered by the Provincial Police on July 13, 2021, in the rocky mountain area in Ken village, Chau Loc commune (Quy Hop). Here, the provincial police caught red-handed a case of illegal white stone mining organized by Mr. Tran Van Bay, a permanent resident of Minh Hop commune (Quy Hop). In this case, the police force temporarily seized 5 excavators, 1 car, 6 stone cutting eyes, 2 air compressors, 2 drills and more than 854m3white stone has been mined.
In addition, the Interdisciplinary Delegation determined that due to the limited management of the People's Committees of the inspected districts, there was a situation where some enterprises used land as mine office areas, product gathering areas, and waste dumps outside the mine area, without being leased land by competent authorities and not promptly inspected and handled; there was still a situation where some enterprises exploited minerals beyond the licensed boundaries, exploited outside the prescribed time frame such as at some sand and gravel mines on Lam River through Nam Dan district, some stone mines in Quy Hop district (An Son Joint Stock Company in Thung Khang, Tho Hop commune; Ha Quang Company Limited in Chau Loc commune...).
From the discovery and clarification of violations by 22 enterprises, the Interdisciplinary Team drew up a record of administrative violations and transferred the file to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the Tax Department and the Chairmen of the People's Committees of related districts to impose administrative sanctions on the violating enterprises.
The total amount of fines and tax arrears is over VND24,942 million. Of which, fines and arrears for tax violations are over VND18,384 million; fines for land violations are over VND2,141 million; fines for mineral violations are over VND3,491 million; fines for environmental violations are VND330 million; fines for water resources are VND110 million; fines for construction are VND50 million; fines for industrial explosives are VND115 million; fines for labor safety are VND321 million.
In addition, during the inspection by the Interdisciplinary Team, Toan Thang Company Limited had to declare additional tax obligations from 2018 to 2022, paying to the state budget a total of 17,998,238,446 VND in taxes and fees; pay late payment penalties for the newly declared additional amount of 2,994,146,196 VND...
